Day 56: South Street (Morning)

[taggingwomprats]

The bus ride hadn't been long, but it had been a bit strange to ride in a wheeled vehicle. Talking with his fellow passenger had earned him some interesting and potentially valuable information, but he was going to have to find out more if he wanted to get out of this place and off-planet. But why were they giving him the run of a strange town? Did

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[its_the_mileage]

Indy had no particular plans for the day: no one to meet, no real research questions (asking the townspeople whether they'd ever heard of a General Aguilar couldn't hurt, but he had a hunch he already knew the answer), and the money wasn't burning a hole in his pocket.

His injuries were burning, though. The wool car coat covered the bandages on his hip and side, but his burned left hand was still completely wrapped, and all of them hurt. The cold air was bracing enough to offset the pain of moving, though, so Indy squared his shoulders and headed down the only street he'd never taken for a morning walk.

He was only a minute or two into it when he passed a young man leaning on the wall, unremarkable except for the way he was looking around. Patient, judging by the worn clothes. Indy glanced around, noticed the parked automobiles in the street and the relative distance of the guards, and commented lightly in passing, "Planning on stealing a car?" This might not be the weather for it--he didn't know much about the mechanics of modern motor vehicles, but if you had to wait for the engine to heat up before driving anywhere you'd be caught in seconds.

"Never seen anyone try it during the day before, but it's worth a shot," he added. He had a hunch he knew how a carjacking attempt would end, too, but you had to respect anyone bold enough to try it.

[taggingwomprats]

Patient wasn't really a good word to describe Luke at the moment. He wanted to get out of here as soon as he could. He was a bit jumpy. The major obstacle was his lack of knowledge about the vehicles on this planet. He frowned at the sound of a voice - that couldn't be - and then he turned and his eyes widened. It was Han. He had that little scar on his chin, the way he held himself, the voice, the face - it was him. A smile spread across his face and he pushed off the wall, grabbing Indy by the shoulders as his grin grew.

"Han! What are you doing here? I thought-"

Well, maybe this was what his vision had meant. Not that this looked like a city in the clouds, but Luke wasn't going to quibble on the details.

"Never mind. When did they get you? Is Leia here? What about Chewie? Threepio?"

[its_the_mileage]

"Han?" Indy repeated as the younger guy gripped his shoulders enthusiastically. Maybe he'd misheard. His brow furrowed as he studied the kid's face and ran through the possibilities: student, former student, someone he'd met on his travels, friend's son, none of it rang any bells. As far as Indy could remember, he'd never met this person in his life.

That impression was confirmed when a string of unfamiliar names tumbled out (and again, maybe Indiana Jones wasn't the one to talk about strange names, but 'Chui' and 'Threepeeoh' were doozies). Indy backed a few paces away and held up his hands to extricate himself gently. "I think you've got the wrong guy. What's your name, kid?"

[taggingwomprats]

"Come on, Han! It's me! Luke!" He wasn't that out of it and it'd only been a few weeks, at most. How could he not recognize him? The grin on his face started to fade. Han couldn't be serious. Could he?

[its_the_mileage]

"Luke?" Nope, that clinched it. "My name is Dr. Indiana Jones. Sorry."

He could tell that wasn't going to go over well; Luke already looked halfway to crestfallen. Indy didn't want to just walk away after that. "Look...you're new at Landel's, aren't you? How much do you already know?"

Strange that Luke was so convinced he was this "Han" character. A number of people had recognized his face, but they tended to have the name right, too. It occurred to him to wonder just how much like him Harrison Ford looked.

...surely not.

[taggingwomprats]

"Indiana Jones...? That's impossible," Luke spat out before he could get a handle on himself. He looked like Han, he sounded like Han - it had to be Han!

"Come on, what is it? Did they get to you somehow? How long have you-?" He cut himself off with a frustrated sigh and waved his hand. "You know what? Fine. Call yourself Indiana Jones or whatever. Yes. I'm new. I just got here and the next thing I know, they put me in a transport and send me down here! All I know is that we're trapped here for some reason and that it was taken over by the military a few days ago."

[its_the_mileage]

"I've been here for three weeks. I've been Indiana Jones for a lot longer than that," Indy rapped right back matter-of-factly.

He'd given the welcome-to-Landel's speech a number of times before. As inadequate as it always felt, the most important note was clear.

"Anyway, you've got the basic idea. They only bring us here once a week; what you need to know is that that compound is dangerous at night. Don't go out alone, and try to find a weapon as quickly as you can."

[taggingwomprats]

Luke shrank back for a moment and looked more like a sulking teenager than anything else. This wasn't good. He was more worried than anything else - if Han thought he was someone else, who knew what they could do here? He tried to stretch out with his feelings, to see if he could sense anything - and found it much more difficult then usual. It was like he'd never even had his training with Master Yoda. Or Ben, for that matter.

He gave up after a moment - he didn't have time for that.

"Right. You're not Han. You just look exactly like him. Great. Just great..."

A weapon. Where was he going to get a weapon? Especially with all of these guards around.

"Any ideas on where to start with that?"

[its_the_mileage]

That probably hadn't been the kindest response, but Indy couldn't think of any better ones. There was only so much he could soften the blow of not being Luke's friend. What he could do was provide information, so that was what he did.

"You should have some money on the card they gave you," he began, since that topic was fresh in his mind. "I'm not sure how much that'll get you--or what the guards will let you bring back--but it can't hurt to find out." D-Class was the lowest rank they'd mentioned on the intercom this morning; if Luke was new, he'd probably have $5 to spend.

How much did five dollars buy you these days? A lot less than it had in 1938, judging by the seemingly handsome sums attached to the cards. The last time he'd been to the grocer's in Fairfield, hamburger had been selling for $0.13 a pound This was the first time he'd thought about it, but of course he hadn't had any cash for the last three weeks; he had no idea how much anything cost. It was an uncomfortably disempowering feeling, like being a kid again.

He moved on. "There's a lot in the building itself, too. Some people have maps you can copy to help yourself get around at night. There are knives in the second-floor kitchen and metal pipes in one of the supply closets. Even the bar from your closet is better than nothing in a fight."

[taggingwomprats]

This was disconcerting. Even more so than being a prisoner. He'd been captured before, tossed into more jail cells then he could count, tied up, dangled in front of certain death; his friend saying he wasn't his friend was even more of a problem. It shook him. But he'd have to try and figure out how to snap him out of it later. For now, he'd just roll with it - he'd have time later. After he got them both out of this place.

"Right, a credit chip. Kinda low-tech, though..."

Seriously. A plastic card? Sheesh.

"...they have to have an armory somewhere. Maybe some blasters. What did they do with my lightsaber...?"

He'd need that back. Oh, he'd definitely need that back.

[its_the_mileage]

An armory. Wouldn't that be nice. They could all just grab guns--or hell, tanks and fight their way out. Indy gave him three seconds to imagine what an improvement that would be, then replied like a scientist. "They might, especially with all the soldiers around in the last couple of days, but it's not anywhere anyone's been able to get to."

The next things Luke had named, he wasn't sure about. "Blasters" probably blasted things and were therefore likely to be firearms, but "lightsabers" (aside from sounding like some kind of sword) were more of a stretch.

"Sometimes people get their clothes back, but not weapons," he told Luke. "I assume a 'lightsaber' is something you can't just buy on any street corner?" It sounded like it.